$85.00
Including the Pregnant & Postpartum Practitioner in an Open Yoga Class with Amber Sawyer, PhD, Jun 15 & 22
Live Online
Sunday, June 15 & 22, 2025
4pm - 6.30pm
Session 1: Including the Pregnant Practitioner in an Open Yoga Class
Sunday, June 15, 2025
4pm - 6.30pm
As a yoga instructor, have you ever found yourself fully prepared to teach your class when suddenly a pregnant practitioner arrives on her mat? Have you had a moment of panic? What can she do safely? Can you continue with your planned sequence? How can you help her to modify, without disrupting the flow of your class? What if she does something in your class that may cause harm to baby? Is she strong enough to do the class? Should I trust that she can modify her own practice? Do I support her or just let her be?
If this scenario has any familiarity for you, join us for this special live online workshop led by Amber Sawyer, PhD, Founder of Embodied Woman Yoga, as we explore and deepen our understanding of how to safely include the pregnant practitioner in an open level class. In this workshop, we will include an embodied approach (practicing asana from the perspective of pregnancy), as well as explore the anatomy and physiology of pregnancy, musculoskeletal changes and complications that are common during pregnancy. Through this lens, we will better be able to explore how to modify an asana practice safely for pregnant practitioners, going through easy and quick variations for postures and vinyasas, how to incorporate props to support the pregnant body, as well as lightly review the contraindications for yoga during pregnancy.
Rather than memorizing a list of contraindications for pregnancy, this course will enable you to have a deeper understanding of why a pose may or may not be beneficial during pregnancy. Moreover, this CEU will hopefully give you the skills to confidently welcome a pregnant practitioner into your open level classes, so you no longer feel the panic arise with her presence, and instead, you feel excited to include her!
Topics to be covered:
- Understanding a brief overview of the anatomical and physiological changes during pregnancy
- General asana and pranayama modifications during pregnancy
- Quick adaptations for common pregnancy complications
- Easy use of props to support the pregnant practitioner
- Assists that are appropriate during pregnancy
Schedule
4pm - 4:15pm: Introduction
4:15pm - 5pm: Asana practice with pregnancy (bring a pillow!)
5:05pm - 5:30pm: Theory
5:30pm - 6:15pm: Exploration of poses & modifications
6:15pm - 6:30pm: Q&A
Session 2: Including the Postpartum Practitioner in an Open Yoga Class
Sunday, June 22, 2025
4pm - 6.30pm
In your list of conditions, injuries and physical challenges that you keep in mind during your open level asana classes, have you ever considered the postpartum practitioner? Giving birth is not only the birth of a baby, but is also the birth of the mother–and with this monumental life transition often comes an incredible amount of stress on the body and mind. Once postpartum, always postpartum, but the first 0-3 years are commonly the most tender as the new mother is adapting to her ever changing body and role. You may have found yourself in a position where a woman has returned to your yoga class, recently having given birth, and that you are not sure how to best support her. Or, you may have never even considered that postpartum women need any particular attention!
Join Amber Sawyer, PhD, Founder of Embodied Woman Yoga for a special live online workshop specializing in how we can include the postpartum practitioner in an open level asana class. We will explore more deeply the physical and anatomical changes that take place postpartum, how to offer appropriate asana modifications and what to look out for when including postpartum practitioners in your open level class. After attending this workshop, hopefully you will gain more confidence and security to welcome postpartum practitioners onto the mat in an open level class.
Topics to be covered:
- Understanding a brief overview of the anatomical and physiological changes following birth
- General asana and pranayama contraindications/modifications following birth, and intuitively recognizing what may or may not be appropriate during the early postpartum years
- Quick adaptations for common postpartum complications
- Easy use of props to support the postpartum practitioner
- Assists that are appropriate for a postpartum practitioner
Schedule
4pm - 4:15pm: Introduction
4:15pm - 5:15pm: Theory
5:20pm - 6:15pm: Exploration of poses & modifications
6:15pm - 6:30pm: Q&A
Price
$85 per session
$160 for both sessions
This event will be conducted online via Zoom. Please note that students attending the workshop must have completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training or be actively teaching yoga.
Cancellation Policy
Please note that this event is non-refundable.
ABOUT AMBER SAWYER
A life journey of more than 25 years of study, practice and teaching in Yoga, Ayurveda and Meditation, as well as a PhD in the Biomedical Sciences and a deeply seeded dharma of birth-work and pelvic health medicine have brought Amber into a unique path where scientific, ancient and sacred feminine wisdoms merge together into a holistic journey of exploration. The foundation of Amber’s yoga practice is Elemental Yoga, where she explores the relationship between asana, meridian channels and elemental organ energies as an intentional blend of yin/yang expressions. The 90hr Embodied Woman Pre/Postpartum Yoga Teacher Training offers an incredible amalgam of Amber’s experience in evidence-based research, yoga thru the lens of the elements, her role as a midwife birth assistant and doula, and pelvic health physiology. Amber started teaching at Hom Yoga Singapore in 2011, relocated after 16 years in Singapore to Mallorca in 2022, and continues to travel and share internationally.